Bright Stars, the first men’s basketball team to represent South Sudan in the Olympic Games, reached the semifinals in Villeneuve-d’Ascq before being defeated by Serbia 96-85 in a hotly contested game August 3, 2024. Expectations for the team were high after it lost a pre-Olympics game on July 20 in London by a single point – 101-100 – to the United States team led by LeBron James. AFRECS Board member Steve Miles noted that most of the players for South Sudan were descendants of South Sudanese refugees to the US or Australia. “Several had outstanding collegiate basketball careers in the US or played with NBA teams,” he commented, “but were ultimately released from those NBA teams, sometimes for reasons that sound (as described in the ESPN article) rather capricious.” An ESPN reporter predicted, “There probably will be a movie made about the South Sudan basketball team someday.”
LINK: South Sudan Coach Accuses Refs of Bias in Olympic Loss to Serbia